This drawing is a variation on a popular fifteenth-century theme in which the Madonna is portrayed seated in a rose garden or on a grassy bank. The arbor suggests the enclosed garden, or hortus conclusus, a visual metaphor for Mary’s virginity. Durer’s working technique - lightly sketched outlines, areas of parallel hatching to differentiate light and shadow, and little attempt at three-dimensionality - exemplifies his graphic production during the second decade of the fifteenth century.

Prince Heinrich (Henryk) Lubomirski (1777-1850), Przeworsk; moved to the "Lubomirski Museum," Ossolinski Nationalinstitut, Lviv, after 1868; confiscated by the German occupation forces on 2 July 1941 and removed to Germany; United States Army, 1945-48; Prince Georg Lubomirski; [Schaeffer Galleries, New York]. Acquired by Robert Lehman in 1952.